Once again, the most renowned orchestra in the world has come to just about the worst large auditorium in my area. And I was sent to review it.
The selection of works - Brahms and Mendelssohn - was delectable. The sound quality was beautiful, though the acoustics did their best to negate that. The conducting was wayward and eccentric. I've heard a lot better from the VPO in other hands. I fancy they might have done better with Strauss's Alpine Symphony the previous night; it's the kind of work that might respond to this approach. But how Bruckner's Eighth, which requires the most careful of shaping, came out the next evening I shudder to think.
This was an unusual form for a review from me, because - concentrating on the sound quality - I discussed the concert as a whole instead of the pieces individually. How I knew the word "intercalary" I can't remember, but it must have been right because the editors left it in.
Joshua Kosman and Zachary Woolfe's reviews make it clear that the Strauss was excellent. I am sorry that you didn't say that the conducting in the Mendelssohn - Brahms program was wayward and eccentric. It sure was, and you could reasonably have put it more strongly.
ReplyDeleteI think I made that clear enough, using other words.
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